Anime Colony: Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro

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  Rating: PG
  U.S. Distribution Rights: Manga Entertainment
  Genres: Action, Comedy

Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (Movie)

Description: While driving along the highway, Lupin III and his partner in crime, Jigen, saw a car with a bunch of mean looking men chasing another one with a bride at the wheel. Being the kindhearted thief as he is (^_^), he succeeded in rescuing the runaway bride from these men but got injured. When Lupin awakened, the bride was nowhere to be found but her ring was left behind. Oddly, the ring triggered some past memory of Lupin's and he remembered it being part of the wealthy family of Cagliostro. Together, Lupin and Jigen travels to the Castle of Cagliostro to discover the mystery between the bride and the family of Cagliostro and on the way, family secrets and mysterious pasts revealed!!!

Overall Grade: 92.5% (A-)

The Lupin III: Dark Order of Assassination (Movie) Review
The Lupin III: Die! Nostradamus (OVA) Review
The Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy (OVA) Review
The Lupin III: Tokyo Crisis (TV) Review

Reviewer #1: Christine Liu
Episodes reviewed: Subtitled

Grade: 95% (A)

This description does not truly justify this anime's well written story. Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro came out in the late 1970's among many numerous Lupin III movies. However, this movie was known to be the best one out of all of them. This particular movie was directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Mononoke Hime, Tonari no Totoro, etc). You can even see Miyazaki's touch in the animation (the runaway bride, also known as Lady Clarisse looks VERY much like the heroine in Nausicaa (another Miyazaki's work).

I agree that this anime is great and well written!! (Don't know if it is the best of all Lupin movies though ^^). Though the animation is from the 70's it is still enjoyable to watch. The whole "Lupin" idea actually came from a novel by Maurice Le Blanc who writes about this reknown French thief name Lupin. However, the anime itself is focused on his grandson, Lupin III who wants to be just as famous as his granddad.

In this particular story, the Castle of Cagliostro, Lupin and Jigen was trying to solve the "goat money" (counterfeit money) in which they ended up stealing in the beginning of the movie. In trying to find the source of the goat money, they had a little "run-in" with Lady Clarisse and a bunch of thugs. Somebody desperately wants to keep Lady Clarisse as his bride! Lupin and Jigen later found out that Lady Clarisse and Count Cagliostro was to be wed. Both the Lady and the Count represents the two houses of Cagliostro, "light and shadow". The mystery unfolds as Lupin tries to rescue Lady Clarisse from the Count and found the Count's real motives for marrying Clarisse as well as the underground "business" the Count is involved in. Of course, Lupin have help from Jigen and a few other characters as well -- Goemon, a samurai and Fujiko, a mercenary who is also uncovering the Count's secret business. Even Inspector Z who had been after Lupin for a long time helped him in exposing the Count's secrets.

This anime with a great well written story have a lot of comedic scenes between Lupin and the characters who help him out. This monkey-looking thief is agile, smart, witty, and confident --he's not your handsome looking hero but you can't help falling for him nonetheless. What a charmer! ^_^ And Lady Clarisse! She's not your typical damsel in distress where she lets Lupin do all the work and rescuing -- so she's a likeable character too! Very gentle! All I can say is that you'll like this anime - very enjoyable to watch!! You'll get a kick outta this one!!! ^_^

Reviewer #2: Clyde Adams III
Episodes reviewed: Movie; subtitled

Grade: 90% (A-)

Castle of Cagliostro is a slapstick comedy adventure, pitting Lupin III, the ever-joking trickster thief, against the purely evil Count Cagliostro, to save Clarisse the princess. Lupin's cleverness keeps him one step ahead of the Count and one step ahead of his nemesis, Inspector Zenigata. An entertaining movie for all ages, it stands above most of the other Lupin III movies, which often include pointless and confusing action, and unsympathetic characters.

This movie is not only funny, but also emotionally involving. We care about the charming, brave, innocent Princess, and we fear for her. We fear for Lupin and his friends, who often have to put themselves in deadly danger.

This film has good animation, good art, and high production values. It was director Hayao Miyazaki's first feature film, and it shows his masterful touch. However, its art and production values cannot compare with those of Miyazaki's subsequent movies, which he made for Studio Ghibli.